Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights JUST Ï NUMBER 098 Ï 1st SESSION Ï 42nd PARLIAMENT EVIDENCE Tuesday, May 22, 2018 Chair Mr. Anthony Housefather 1 Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights Tuesday, May 22, 2018 coercion or, as is the case for most of us, because we are simply looking for a viable way to support ourselves and our families. Ï (1540) [English] The Chair (Mr. Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal, Lib.)): Folks, I am going to call this meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to order as we continue, pursuant to Far from being protective, the anti-sex work laws and the end- Standing Order 108(2), our study of human trafficking in Canada. demand model they represent actually facilitate trafficking by pushing people away from police and social services and into a I'd like to welcome Mr. Falk back to the committee. We missed clandestine underground. you while you were away. [Translation] I would also like to welcome Mr. Picard to the committee today. [English] In addition, the laws against managerial involvement in sex work divest sex workers of protective services such as screening and safe We had some votes, so I'm sorry we're a little bit late. workspaces, the charter right to which was recognized by the Supreme Court in the Bedford decision. These same laws prevent We're going to go through each of the witness groups, and then sex workers from ensuring that our safety and rights are upheld when we'll have questions for you. We'll go in the order on the agenda. we do work for other people, because they exclude us from labour We'll start with the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform. and human rights protections. These laws are also significant barriers We're joined by Ms. Kara Gillies and Ms. Lanna Perrin. to trafficking prevention. People who work with sex workers are well placed to detect and report trafficking, but simply don't do so Then we'll hear from the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence because of fear of criminal prosecution. Lawyers, Ms. Lori Anne Thomas. Next will be Persons Against Non-State Torture, Ms. Linda MacDonald and Ms. Jeanne Sarson. We will then go to Sextrade101, with Ms. Natasha Falle and Ms. The end-demand model and consequent criminalization of Bridget Perrier. purchasing sexual services has had an equally terrible impact on trafficking prevention. Before PCEPA, clients were one of the best The Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, the floor is sources of information about abuse of sex workers. As opposed to yours. other industries where trafficked people can be held in complete Ms. Kara Gillies (Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law isolation, sex work by its nature requires private contact with people, Reform): Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to i.e., clients, outside the inner circle. However, clients are no longer address you today. coming forward because they fear criminalization. My name is Kara Gillies. I have 30 years' experience in multiple areas of the sex trade. Today I am representing the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, a coalition of organizations across Canada working for law The argument that the demand for paid consensual sex fuels reform that supports the rights and safety of people who sell or trade trafficking in the sex trade is akin to saying that the demand for sex, including safety from exploitation and trafficking. better infrastructure, fresh produce, or new clothing fuels the trafficking that exists in the construction, agriculture, and garment Our members' experiences and both anecdotal and academic industries. This is untrue. Trafficking is not caused by a demand for a evidence lead us to conclude that the anti-sex work laws and the service or product. It is caused by systemic, including legal, application of anti-trafficking measures harm all of us in the sex conditions that permit exploitation to occur in various labour and trade, whether we are there because it is our first choice, because of social environments. 2 JUST-98 May 22, 2018 The alliance does not oppose the current Criminal Code definition that sex work is inherently a form of exploitation. The PCEPA of trafficking and believes that a fear for one's safety or that of others explicitly reflects this opinion. This opinion has led to the current is a reasonable measure of exploitation. It is our assessment that the state where all sex work can be, and often is, considered trafficking. low conviction rate is a reflection of the broad misapplication of the This conflation of sex work and trafficking means that any of us law to any abusive third party involvement in sex work, including working in the sex trade can be the target of harmful anti-trafficking those that simply don't meet the legal or conceptual standard of initiatives at any time. Also, when sex work is considered itself a trafficking, and should not be addressed as such. form of violence, when actual violence occurs it's considered expected and is sadly condoned. Further, the conflation of sex work We are opposed to amending the definition of exploitation to and trafficking creates confusion about what exactly we're discussing include the concept of vulnerability, because we know that the when we attempt to address trafficking, and then it leads to ideological stance that labels all of us as inherently abused will make ineffective policies and practices. us targets of harmful anti-trafficking initiatives. To that point, the application of anti-trafficking laws and related measures actually harms the very people that they aim to protect. The heightened policing of sex workers that has become a routine part of anti- trafficking pushes us yet further underground, especially when we know that those around us are at risk of prosecution under anti-sex work laws. Regardless of differing philosophies on the nature and value of Workers, our workspaces, and our ads are routinely surveilled, and prostitution, women's lives and safety should not be jeopardized we are subject to invasive investigation techniques, such as those of through harmful laws. Laws should be based on evidence, not Operation Northern Spotlight. These leave us shaken. They interfere ideology, and they must uphold charter rights. Thus, all criminal with our livelihood, and they foster further distrust in the police. provisions against sex work should be repealed as part of a genuine effective battle against trafficking. At the same time, state and It is true that a small number of genuine trafficking cases are societal resources should be directed toward anti-poverty, anti- identified through these means, but I ask, at what cost? Imagine for a colonization, and gender and racial equality measures. moment if these same techniques were used in relation to women experiencing intimate partner violence, which we know is a tremendous problem in this country. I have no doubt that if four or five uniformed police officers knocked on the doors of married women's homes, demanded to see identification, ran women's names through police databases, asked a series of deeply personal questions about their relationships, and then asked multiple times if they were being abused., chances are that some abuse would be uncovered, and I'm now going to turn it over to my colleague Lanna to provide some women would escape domestic violence. But at what cost some more insight. would that be to all those women whose privacy, sense of security, and rights were violated, including the privacy and rights of those who were experiencing abuse? It would never be accepted, and we should not accept it as treatment of women who happen to be in the sex trade, even in the important fight against human trafficking. Certain communities of sex workers are disproportionately targeted and impacted by anti-trafficking campaigns. Asian workers Ms. Lanna Perrin (Maggie’s Indigenous Sex Work Drum face racial profiling. Migrant workers are subjected to raids, Group, Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform): detention, and deportation. Indigenous women continue to be over-policed and under-protected by law enforcement that remains racist and colonial in its practices. Ï (1545) Currently, pretty much any abuse of indigenous, migrant, or youth sex workers is uncritically addressed as trafficking. Not only is this [Witness speaks in Algonquin] generally untrue, but it is ineffective at preventing abuse because it ignores the differing structural contexts that inform why and how specific communities sell or trade sex and then experience violence. Instead, we need to address systemic issues like poverty and inequality, as well as the impacts of colonization on indigenous women, restrictive immigration policies on migrant women, and failed youth protection systems on young people, as key examples. My name is Lanna Perrin and I'm here representing Maggie's Overall, the harms of the anti-sex work laws and the anti- indigenous drum group, a part of Maggie's, which is also a part of trafficking laws are the result of a singular ideological positioning the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform. May 22, 2018 JUST-98 3 I have been doing sex work since I was 16 years old, and I believe I echo the comments of what witnesses said previously, as well as there are three reasons why people get into the sex trade: choice, the comments in the PACE Society brief that highlights the various circumstance, and coercion. Speaking for myself and knowing my levels of consent and voluntariness in sex work. I also echo the stories and those of a lot of my indigenous sisters and brothers, most concerns expressed regarding anti-trafficking initiatives that may of the reasons we get into sex work are primarily circumstantial.